Everything You Ever
by JonaBee
Summary: Another take on Third Impact.


Everything You Ever.

Everyone wishes to stop Gendo Ikari from fulfilling his plans, from SEELE, who wish to initiate Third Impact their own way, to Rei, who wishes to help Shinji... but, is that really a good idea?

HR.

He had done it. Gendo Ikari had succeeded, the combined power of Adam and Lilith throbbing through his body, emanating from his right hand. He ignored the tortured scream he could somehow hear as his son dissolved in the entry plug of Unit 01, the EVA slowly falling to pieces as it contributed its power to the apotheosis. The scream got louder as it expanded, beginning to claim all humanity in one massive, AT Field shattering blast of power. Gendo Ikari was not a gentle god; all knew that now.

As he floated through the massed, combined, and confused consciousness of Humanity, what had once been a brown haired man with a beard and set of orange glasses pondered what to do now. It had almost forgotten its goal in the exhilarating rush of the new power it had been given, but a piece of the shattered shell of the black egg poking up through the red waters reminded it of where it had come from, and what it had wanted to do.

Within moments, it began to work.

HR.

"Shinji!" The boy grunted, rolling over in his bed. "Shinji, wake up!" He moved his head a little, giving the speaker hope that he was going to actually wake this time, before grabbing the sides of his pillow and pressing them against his ears. "Okay, now you're just pissing me off. Rei, could you go get me a bucket?"

"Yes, Asuka-san," a quieter voice said, before the boy's bedroom door opened.

"Wait, I'm up!" he said, tossing the pillow away from himself. "Why do you have to be such a jerk, Asuka?"

"Because you're too lazy, of course," the redheaded girl said, as the brown haired boy looked around, noticing his younger sister standing at the doorway, quite obviously inside the closed door.

"Hey wait, she wasn't going to get a bucket," he grumbled, as Rei grinned back at him and Asuka slapped her on the shoulder.

"Mother would be angry if we messed up your bed," the brown haired girl explained, shrugging Asuka's hand off. "But we'll be late for school if you don't get ready quickly."

"But, it's Saturday, isn't it?" Shinji blinked.

"Yes, which means we get out at lunch time," Asuka said, slowly, the look on her face clearly conveying her opinion of his intelligence.

Shinji blinked a few times, before bolting out of bed and grabbing some clothes from his dresser. Rei quickly opened the door, allowing the boy to bolt through it without slowing down, while Asuka sighed. "Idiot," she grumbled, heading down stairs.

HR.

Yui Ikari hummed merrily to herself as she washed the dishes after breakfast. She could hear the sound of her oldest child charging down the hall. "Ah, Shinji's finally awake. You should probably finish that coffee so you're not late for work."

Her husband only grunted something from behind the newspaper he was studying intently. He'd been acting strangely all morning, not that she'd really be complaining about the nearly world shattering kiss she'd been given when he'd first woken up, or what had happened after, for that matter. When they had finally gotten up, however, the man had acted as though he had no idea how to navigate their own house, and had muttered something about Tokyo and the number 3 before burying his head in the local news and not saying anything to her since.

Her concerned contemplation was interrupted as Shinji came barreling down the stairs, his book bag over one shoulder and Asuka grabbing the other arm. "Hey you two, don't forget to wait for Rei," she admonished, while gesturing to the three bento arranged on the counter.

"Hey, thanks Mrs. Ikari," Asuka said, grabbing her lunch. Shinji just grumbled about waiting for his sister, holding his lunch bag behind his back.

"Rei?" Gendo asked, lowering his paper.

"Yes, father?" the polite girl's voice came from the doorway as she grabbed her lunch and joined the others at the kitchen door.

He studied her for a moment, his expression looking strained, before he shook his head. "It's nothing," he decided. "Have a good day." The last sentiment sounded as though it had been wrestled out of him with some sort of torture, but the children didn't really seem to notice much, turning and leaving the house.

The brown haired man sat, staring at the door for a few moments, before Yui walked over to him, concerned. "Rei?" he muttered, shaking his head.

"So, did you suddenly forget our daughter existed?" Yui joked, only to get a somewhat blank look from her husband. She supposed he'd been immersing himself in something at work and just snapped out of it. It had happened before, but the last time he'd been this incoherent had been the time they'd found the ceremonial armor over ten years ago. "Honey, you really are going to be late," she said, picking up his coffee cup and heading back to the sink to add it to the other dishes there.

"Yes," Gendo nodded, getting up and grabbing his coat off of a hook before leaving the house. Luckily for his peace of mind, the children had already left eyesight by the time he started for his large white van.

HR.

Something was wrong. Gendo thought this as he stared into the eyes of Evangelion Unit 01, or at least a model of it, standing across from him in a small office and seeming to stare into his soul with its white gaze. Well, he'd known something was 'wrong' since he woke up this morning, face to face with his long dead wife, but he hadn't really been able to bring himself to care. Even as memory gradually trickled back to him, about his life, his children, his job, he'd just assumed that, even though he wasn't able to recall anything after he, Rei and Lilith had initiated third impact, he'd succeeded, achieved the power he so wanted, and created a new life for himself.

The thing he couldn't understand, however, was why so many things here were so much like the world he'd known. His simple stare at the Evangelion model on the wall across from him turned into a hard glare. They weren't supposed to exist here. Not the EVA, nor the small replica of the Lance in the corner, with a card under it that explained that it was an ancient western hunting weapon, or even the progressive knife that sat on his desk, apparently a letter opener in the shape of some tribal spear point.

He'd almost breathed his sandwich earlier this afternoon when he'd seen Naoko Akagi and Ryoji Kaji working on the restoration staff of the museum he was now a researcher for, and Rei... For a moment, he saw the first child, her third clone body failing, an arm hitting the catwalk in front of Lilith with a wet, sickening plop. "Dr. Ikari?"

Gendo's head shot up to face the junior researcher so quickly that she stepped back, almost dropping her papers. "I... I'm sorry to disturb you, sir, but the pyramid site's been excavated more fully and I thought you would like to look at the photos. They've actually found a nearly mirror symmetrical lake bed right next to it, and..."

"Thank you, Miss. Ibuki, I can go over the report," Gendo found himself responding and smiling out of a habit he'd never had while commanding NERV. Flipping over the cover page, he almost wasn't surprised to see a stone replica of the smooth surfaced Terminal Dogma complex, closing the thing sharply and sticking it in his desk to deal with later. Right now, he needed a walk, if nothing else to get away from the staring eyes of the Evangelion.

HR.

"Stop it! Stop it! You bastard, stop! Make it stop! No, please! No, stop! God damn you, stop!" Gendo blinked, hard, bringing one hand to his head, his son looking at him strangely.

"It's okay if you don't want to help this time, father, this stuff's pretty easy to do by myself," the boy said, worriedly, as he began packing away his math papers.

"No," Gendo's hand on his son's wrist stopped him, the grip seeming unusually firm. "I'm fine, I can help you."

"Okay..." the younger Ikari said, slowly, taking the rest of the materials back out and arranging them on the table. The boy was actually pretty smart, Gendo realized, as he went through the work with him, noting that Shinji understood the concepts and was able to extrapolate from them reasonably well. "How could you do this to me? I thought you didn't want me!"

Gendo startled, looking around rapidly. "Shinji, did you say something?"

"Um, I asked you if the answer was 24," the boy replied, confused.

"Yes, of course," Gendo said, before shaking his head. "I mean no, that's not the answer."

"Oh, okay, maybe I..." Shinji muttered, going back over his calculations, as his mother entered the room carrying a couple of glasses of milk.

"I don't deserve this," Gendo mumbled, seeing the happy expression on Yui's face and the rather grumpy, yet still not depressed or angry one on Shinji's.

"Oh, come on, going over Shinji's work with him isn't that bad, is it?" Yui asked, setting Gendo's drink down before him. "If you want, I can finish this up and you can get back to whatever you were doing before."

"Yes, perhaps that would be best," Gendo replied, standing and leaving the room, not noticing the concerned looks its other two occupants gave him as he did so.

HR.

The wind blew through the grass as Gendo stood on the porch that surrounded the home he'd found himself in. At the least, this one thing was different from where he'd been, the skyscrapers, and later rubble of Tokyo-3 nowhere to be found, or at least, a half hour's drive into the city.

He'd remembered that moving out to a place like this to settle down had always been one of his dreams, especially when he was in college, being driven somewhat insane by all of the other people who kept crowding around him.

Looking out across the fields to the main road, he saw a dark dot running down the path, gradually resolving itself into Rei, wearing a sky blue jogging outfit. "Father!" she yelled, waving at him and altering her course to intercept him.

Gendo realized what she was doing a few moments too late, finding himself bowled over by the girl jumping into his arms. Falling to the wooden floor with a whump of escaped air, he blinked up at her in confusion. "Rei? What are you doing?"

The young girl shrugged, rolling off of her father and hopping to her feet. "I just went running, like I always do."

He nodded, looking into his 'daughter's' eyes, feeling rather disconcerted by her resemblance to the girl who had piloted Unit 00, who shouldn't exist here. "Why were you out so late?"

"I don't know," she looked sheepish. "Sorry if I worried you or mom, I just... sort of forget the time while I'm running. It makes you feel so free and alive, you know?"

Gendo caught himself half way through a nod, as a thought reverberated through his mind. "If I die, I can be replaced." He pushed himself back from the girl before him as though she were on fire, his eyes widening and hands shaking.

"Father?" the brown haired girl asked, worriedly. "Are you all right?"

Gendo didn't answer.

HR.

Everything was dark, save one light source, which silhouetted three shapes, and the glowing pattern of the Tree of Life seemingly hovering above him. The pattern gave him just enough light to see by, revealing enough of the features of the beings before him that he could make them out as Yui, Shinji and Rei. They said nothing, only staring fixedly at him, though their voices still rushed through his awareness.

He had done horrible things to many millions of people, directly or indirectly, but these three had been the ones he'd most directly effected. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice obviously trembling. Still, the sounds, and even occasional images didn't stop. Shinji's betrayed imprecations, pleas, and panicked screams, Rei's quiet acquiescence, and Yui's quiet conversations, laughter, and panicked last words before Unit 01 absorbed her. He had betrayed all of them, in such a close way that he may as well have stuck a knife into each of their backs.

All three of them seemed to point, and Gendo looked down to where their fingers were indicating to find his hand, clenched around the butt of his NERV issued sidearm. He didn't try to apologize any longer, didn't try to explain himself, he merely raised the weapon to his temple, pulling the trigger. As the loud report of the weapon went off, he was relatively sure he was supposed to be brain dead at this point, but still managed to see as the three figures faded from before him, light seeming to return and reveal the form of Evangelion Unit 01, its white eyes still glaring.

HR.

"This is going to get us killed," Asuka Langley Soryu muttered as she stood outside of an office door, Shinji Ikari working on the lock with a hairpin. "How do you know that's even going to work?"

"Kaji-san taught me once," the brown haired boy replied. "Now be quiet, I've got to listen."

"Whatever, just hurry up, okay?" the redhead said, looking up and down the hall nervously. She knew why her friend had to do this, he'd been mumbling about it for the past week, and she wanted to support him, but this was going pretty overboard, in her opinion. "Couldn't we just ask Akagi-san if she knows what it means?"

"If it's dangerous or something, do you think she'd tell us?" Shinji objected, once again picturing something he had burnt into his memory. Thankfully, he hadn't actually seen the scene of his father's suicide, but he had gotten a glimpse of the 'note' the police had found when they'd given it to his mother and asked her if she recognized it. The thing had consisted of nothing but lines, connecting circles in a strangely familiar pattern.

Asuka wasn't stupid enough to question Shinji's belief that his father's last doodle meant something. Ever since the older man had died, the boy had been gripped with determination to find out why, and she really couldn't blame him. Mr. Ikari had always been a nice, if kind of scatter-brained, man and the idea that he would just kill himself was really unlikely. The German girl almost leapt out of her skin when the office door made a soft, but definite click and swung open.

"Come on, let's look," Shinji said, his expression more serious than she'd ever seen it before.

END.

Short answer, yes.

Notes: We aren't continuing this. We had more ideas, including a sort of alternate universe NERV and a really wierd EVA/FMA fusion based off of some similarities of the series, but we felt that this fic had more impact the way it was now. Hopefully we were right, and you Enjoyed it, or at least got something out of it.

This is it. There is no more.

Please, tell us what you think in a review, even if you want to kill us.

Also, as a complete non sequitur, we got a new Avitar, isn't it neat?


End file.
